If you were like me and
were blown away by In the Heights last Thursday night, then you have producer
Robyn Goodman to thank for that. Who is Robyn Goodman? She began her rise in
musical theater in 1979 when she co-founded Second Stage Theatre with Carole
Rothman. Ms. Rothman had approached the then actress about being her
co-artistic director. Although Ms. Goodman said she’d give it five years, she
stayed for thirteen.

Second Stage Theatre
developed into a theater company that played and continues to play Off-Broadway
shows. While there, Robyn Goodman produced 50 plays – many of them award
winning. In 1992, after thirteen seasons with Second Stage, she moved to
television and became the supervising producer of the ABC Soap Opera “One Life
to Live.” During her four years with the show, she won six Emmy Awards.

Today, Ms. Goodman owns
her own production company titled Aged in Wood, which produces Broadway and
Off-Broadway plays and musicals. Along with producing Tony Award winning
musicals like In the Heights and Avenue Q, she has helped produce
other noted Broadway shows like High Fidelity, Barefoot in the
Park,
and the revival of Steel Magnolias. Altar Boyz, Our Lady of 121st
Street,
and Bat Boy
are a few of the Off-Broadway plays she has also helped to produce.

When asked how she decides which projects to get
involved with, she stated that she simply follows what excites her. That was
the case when she saw Jeff Marx and Bobby Lopez present the songs for a
proposed TV show featuring puppets named Avenue Q. That show earned back the
$3.5 million it cost to produce after only 10 months on Broadway, and it is
currently still running. The success of Avenue Q is one of many examples of how
well Ms. Goodman knows her craft.

Here
is a link Robyn Goodman's interview with the American Theatre Wing.